To Build A Home
by Pachamama9
Summary: After surviving the Battle of Hogwarts, Tonks suffers an accident rendering her unable to conceive, but she's determined to still have children.
1. Hold On To Me As We Go

_A/N: What if Remus and Tonks had survived the Battle of Hogwarts? Whose lives would this ultimate couple change?_

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Magical & Mundane Literature: Genres - Extra Credit (Task 12) - Write a story where a canon-death didn't happen. Focus on the events that change should the person stay alive instead._

 _Disclaimer: I own nothing._

* * *

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Tonks thought she would retire from Auror work for a while, so she could focus on raising her beautiful son, Teddy. However, the universe had an alternative course planned out for Nymphadora Tonks.

When she was at the park with Teddy, watching him ride around on his toy broom, she heard a bloodcurdling scream impale the peaceful aura of the playground.

At the edge of the park, near the slide, was a tall woman in a Death Eater mask, limping and waving her wand around. "The Dark Lord shall return!" she growled, pointing at a nearby mother, who whimpered and clutched her child to her chest. "And you will all learn what Dark magic can truly do!"

Then she let out a horrible cackle and blasted a dark red spell at the nearest person, a tiny four-year-old boy. Tonks, her Auror blood boiling, Apparated from the opposite side of the playground in record time, darting in front of the boy and performing a quick shield charm to protect him.

Tonks stepped back into a duelling stance, motioning for the boy to run, but the Death Eater didn't care about one fierce mother. She cared about causing as much suffering as possible in the little time that she had. The Death Eater turned around and whipped a fire charm all around her, sending children crying and running away. A father a few feet from Tonks was trying to contain the flames with his magic, but it was proving extremely difficult. Tonks attempted a body-binding spell, but the woman easily deflected the curse. "You're all traitors!" she roared, and the air surged with heat as more flames cascaded from her wand. "Bombarda! _Bombarda_!"

Terrified for her son's life, Tonks tried to Apparate to Teddy, for the flames were rising and heading in his direction, but she found herself still on solid ground. The Death Eater must have placed an anti-Apparition charm on the park after Tonks had rescued the boy; she realized that the effects of the charm were driving everyone mad with hysteria.

Screams and sobs shook the ground, but Tonks only stepped up to duel the Death Eater. "Oi!" she yelled, shooting a hex at the black-robed woman to distract her from the children. "Come on get me, you stupid arse!"

The terrifying silver mask turned to face her, its metal teeth gritted in a wicked grimace. "Finite Incantatem!" growled the woman, and her shield charm splintered like broken glass.

* * *

The first thing she felt was pain, ripping through her torso with the mad frenzy of a Cornish pixie. As she slowly returned to consciousness, she groaned, moving her hands to her stomach. It was wet, a mess of pink and red, and when she tried to find the wound all she found were her husband's scarred fingers. The air reeked of blood, smoke, burnt skin...

Remus was above her, pressing his hands against her bloody stomach. His voice was muffled, as though she was hearing it through water. "Look at me, love," he was saying, and Tonks started to smile. She loved hearing his voice.

She was bubbling beneath her skin, sewn together by a thin membrane; any moment now, she would burst into liquid and gush through Remus' fingers. _Remus_ , she tried to say, but her voice trickled down her lips, hot and salty. _Where's Teddy_?

"Stay with me, love, stay with me!" His voice was getting more urgent, more distressed, but Tonks was too busy tracing the lines of his face with her eyes to notice. "The Healers are coming, don't worry, they're coming…"

Ice-cold pain suddenly speared her, just below her navel, and the gasp that erupted from her was nowhere near an accurate reaction, but it was all she could muster. She lost her grip on Remus' arm (had she been holding onto him this whole time?) and then her grip on consciousness, and the world swirled before her eyes, dizzying and far too bright.

"You're gonna be okay," said Remus… Her neck tilted back, weightless, like that of an infant… "You're gonna be…"

* * *

She wished their whispering would stop. She could hear them, nibbling at her skull; when she opened her eyes, the incessant noise finally ended, traded for a painful white light piercing her right pupil. It was a Healer, dressed in lime-green robes, her blonde curls pulled back into a messy bun. Behind her, a Healer-in-training in mustard-yellow robes bobbed up and down on his toes. "Are you with me, Mrs. Lupin?" The light floated in front of her other eye; Tonks wanted to slap it away. "Blink if you can understand me."

She forced her eyelids to close and then open again.

"Excellent," said the Healer. She asked her a few more questions until Tonks croaked, "Where are they?"

The Healer was startled by the sound of her voice. "Who?"

"My son...and my husband."

The Healer bit her lip and whispered to her apprentice. The blonde trainee then slipped from the room, returning in seconds with her distressed husband. "Dora!" Remus dashed to her side, even as the Healer clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Merlin, love, I'm so sorry…" He kneeled by the hospital bed, took her hand, and kissed it repeatedly, intertwining their fingers. "I should have been there…"

Tonks shook her head. "There's no way you could have known." She frowned. "Where's Teddy? Is he okay?"

"He's at your mum's," he explained. "And he's fine. He's got a couple burns, that's all, but he just really wants to see you."

The Healer, from the corner of the room, cleared her throat. "If you would, Mr. Lupin, there's something we need to discuss with you and your wife."

Tonks could feel her heart sink like an anchor in her chest, hitting the ocean floor with an anguished _thunk_. "What is it?"

The Healer pulled up a chair for Remus, who gratefully took it. He continued to hold her hand, giving her a comforting squeeze.

She cleared her throat again, her face solemn. "The curse that hit you, Mrs. Lupin, it caused some extreme internal damage. We were able to heal most of it, but…" Tonks wanted to scream. What was she waiting for? "The ovaries and uterus were severely damaged. Even with our best Healers on the job, the female reproductive system cannot reform itself the way, say, a kidney can. You're no longer physically able to bear children."

Although the Healer continued, explaining the exact extent of the damage, Tonks had stopped listening. Her ovaries? Her uterus? That wonderful fantasy she had in her mind where she had five children with Remus, each with a different aspect of his beautiful face… Watching her children go off to Hogwarts like Molly Weasley did, watching them play and grow up together… It had been destroyed.

"I'm so sorry about this, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin. It's a tragic situation, truly." She gave them a sympathetic look, gazing at the couple over her glasses. "At least you already have one."

As the Healer and her trainee left the room to give them privacy, Remus slumped back in his chair. Beside her, her husband began to cry silently, covering his face with his hands. He never liked to let her see him cry, but today Tonks pulled his hands away from his face and took them in hers. "This will not end us, Remus," she declared. Even though she could feel her anguish clawing its way up her throat, she still stood firm. "We can still have children."

"But she said—"

"I don't care," she interrupted, "what that moron said. I want a family with you, love, and that means that Teddy's gonna have brothers and sisters, remember? As many as I want."

She felt her insides ripple with pain. "Dora," protested her husband, "you heard her. She said we couldn't have any more kids."

Tonks shushed him. "I won't have my son grow up in a house by himself. We don't have to have biological children, Remus. There have to be magical kids that need parents, right? Especially after the War."

Remus shook his head. "They won't be _ours_ , Dora. Those are other people's children. It won't be the same."

Tonks' expression hardened. "Family don't end in blood. They'll be my kids if I want them to be."

Gazing at his stubborn wife, Remus finally relented. "You think we can do this?" he asked, his voice quiet.

Tonks smiled. "Have a little faith, love," she said, sitting up to kiss him once. "Of course we can."

* * *

Remus and Tonks visited an orphanage for the first time a couple of months later, located just outside of magical London. They'd left Teddy with Andromeda and Ted for the day.

As Tonks was still recovering, Remus curled his arm around her waist as they arrived to help her move forward. Although she needed physical support, it was Remus who needed emotional support, for he was still unsure of the whole werewolf-as-a-father-to-all situation. She leaned into him, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Don't worry, love," she said. "It'll be fine."

To their surprise, the building looked more like a prison than an orphanage, painted an ugly gray color with bars on the windows. There were a couple of children out front, around nine or ten, raking the leaves. The two were dressed in the same drab colors as the house: gray and black.

As they approached, the children scattered, darting behind the house. Remus rang the doorbell, and a scowling woman greeted them. "What do you want?" She glared at both of them. "If you're selling something, I don't want it."

While Remus shuffled nervously next to her, Tonks stuck her hand out. "We're the Lupins," she explained. "We're here to discuss adoption?"

Her demeanor melted from hostile ice queen to smiling hostess. "Oh, you're the potential parents! Come in, come in!"

Both Tonks and Remus were unnerved by her sudden change in spirit, but nonetheless they entered the orphanage, hopeful for an adoption.

The woman, who introduced herself as Madame Martha Martins, sat them in the sitting room, where two skinny girls in gray dresses offered them tea and biscuits.

"Many of our children were orphaned by the War," Martins explained, grimacing. "After that, we went from… Twelve, I think, to forty-seven."

"How many do you have now?" asked Remus.

Her picture-perfect smile chipped. "Twenty-four."

"What happened to the others?"

"Most were adopted, but we had a couple runaways, too." She shrugged, sipping her tea. "That was before I took charge. This place was mad, I tell you, until I got here." Unbridled pride leaked over her face. "I got some discipline into these children. They're nothing short of perfect now, I promise you. Quiet, obedient, calm…"

Tonks coughed. Knowing it was time to take her healing potions, she asked for the toilet; Madame Martins directed her upstairs.

Going up the stairs, she held onto the railing to keep herself up, hearing the matron ask Remus, "Mr. Lupin, do you have a gender preference?"

She made her way to the toilet, taking a left at the end of the corridor, and then a right into the second door, and drank her prescribed potion. The discomfort locked within her torso subsided a bit, and she left, closing the door behind her. As she headed for the stairs, she heard some panicked whispers echoing in the hallway. Curious, she crept towards them, one hand against the wall.

"Micah…" This voice was higher, definitely younger, and broken between sobs. "It hurts."

As Tonks turned the corner, she could spot them at the end of hall, the younger child in a matching gray dress and socks sitting against the wall while the older one crouched before her. "I know it hurts," said the other one. The older boy was a teenager, dark with a mass of darker curls topped by a woolen gray hat. "But you gotta be strong, okay?

The little girl's blonde hair was matted with blood, and she cried, her cheeks shining in the dim lighting. "I hate Madame Martins," she wailed, hugging her doll. The boy dipped the edge of his scarf in the pail next to him and began to cleanse the scarlet from her hair. "I wish she was dead."

"I know, I know…" The older boy took her into his arms, shushing her and letting her cry into his shoulder. "It'll be okay. I know it hurts, but we have some parents comin' today. Maybe this time, you'll be picked."

The little girl whimpered as Micah pressed his scarf against her head. "I never get picked," she mumbled.

Micah took off his hat, placing it over the girl's head to cover most of the red patches. "Maybe this time they will," he replied, hopeful. "Just smile, okay? Pretend Madame Martins isn't there."

The girl sniffled. "Okay, Micah."

Before they could notice she was there, Tonks snuck back down the hallway and down the stairs, rejoining her husband.

Remus was currently talking about Teddy; although usually talking about his son made his entire mood improve, it was clear to her that his conversation was impeded by how uncomfortable he felt around the matron. "Ah, Mrs. Lupin!" the matron exclaimed. "So glad you're back. We were just talking about—"

"We'd like to meet the children," Tonks interrupted, her face stern. Remus glanced at her, startled by her sudden abrasiveness.

"Which ones?" asked Madame Martins.

"All of them."

Nervous, the matron cleared her throat. "Yes, yes, of course!" She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Children, line up!" Footsteps pounded throughout the house, and suddenly various children rushed into the room, short and tall, dark and light…

In seconds, all twenty-four of the children were lined up before them, staring at the ground. "Very good," said Martins. She gave each kid an introduction, stating their name, age, and demeanor. Elsie, Rhiannon, Arjun, Owen, Imani, Jared… Rhiannon, the blonde girl Tonks had spotted upstairs, still wore Micah's too big hat to cover the blood on her head. When she reached the end of the line, she snapped, "Where's Ash?"

The children didn't speak in response, only wincing when she raised her voice. "Muhammed," she warned, training her eyes on the final orphan. "Where's Ash?" she asked the boy. "You're always with her."

He shrugged, but his sudden shift from obedience to terror was evident to both Tonks and Remus. His hands shook, as did his voice, as he spoke. "I-I think she's in the garden, ma'am," he stammered. "You told her to pull the weeds—"

"Yes, yes!" snapped the matron. "I know what I told her to do!" She sighed. "I'll deal with her later."

"Who's Ash?" Tonks' question rang through the air.

The matron only glared. "She's just a troublemaker. Don't worry, she won't bother you." She shooed the children away. "Out, out, the adults are speaking!" She smoothed her hair down with her long fingers. "Do you have any children in mind?"

Remus and Tonks exchanged a convoluted combination of expressions, shifting from confusion to concern. "We'll come back after lunch," said Tonks. "We've got to talk about it."

The matron smiled, every one of her white teeth glinting. "Of course! Take your time!"

* * *

"Merlin, Remus, it's a bloody prison!" said Tonks, fingers pressed against her temples. They had walked to a bench near the orphanage and were both sitting, contemplating what had just occurred. Tonks was starting to get a headache. "Did you see the kids?"

"Skin and bones," replied Remus, nodding. "Reminded me of Harry when he was younger. When he was with the Dursleys."

"And those Muggles were just a hair short of child abuse." She sighed, conflicted. "And I told you about what happened upstairs. There's definitely more going on than she's willing to admit. We can't leave them there, Remus. We have to _do_ something."

"What?" Remus threw his hands up. "We have no evidence! Nothing but the fear in their eyes! Even with what you saw, no jury would convict that woman."

Tonks scowled, flames roaring in her eyes. Her hair surged from one color to another, brown to purple to pink to bright red. "I don't care if I don't have any bloody evidence, Remus," she growled. "I'm gonna save my kids."

Skipping lunch, they went back to the orphanage; this time, the front yard was empty, making the building seem almost void of life. Tonks unlocked the front door with a quiet "Alohomora," and Remus followed her inside.

"Homenum Revelio," he hissed, and shadows rushed at the pair, alerting them that all of the inhabitants of the orphanage were in the basement.

Protected by a combination of muffling and cloaking spells, they snuck into the basement, finding every kid there, lined up against the wall. Madame Martins was pacing in front of them, her severe expression furious, having a heated conversation with one of the orphans. The children's fear was prevalent, seeming to swallow up the room as their matron spoke. The matron's two assistants, a man and woman in gray and white, each held a baby. One was sleeping, the other crying.

Madame Martins had the girl by the hair now and was snarling at her. She was probably sixteen, with thick brown curls and olive skin, and she was skinnier than the rest, her face hollow with hunger. "You know the rules, yet still you disobey me?"

Tonks took a step towards the woman, her rage exploding, but Remus held her back. The girl snapped, "You took her away from me!"

"Ash, she's no longer yours!" growled the matron, yanking the teen's head back."She's a ward of the Ministry of Magic, as you are, and you both belong to me!"

Ash spat on the matron's feet. "We don't belong to anyone."

Enraged, Madame Martins swung her hand back and slapped her across the face, and Ash collapsed on the ground. Tonks couldn't stand it anymore. She whipped out her wand and threw the matron against the wall with a nonverbal spell. Remus, already ahead of her, had retrieved the assistants' wands and taken both babies from them.

Tonks stuck her wand under the matron's chin. "If you touch my daughter again," she snarled, "I'll kill you!"

Madame Martins hissed, "These are not your children! They—"

Tonks Stupefied the cruel woman before she could say another word. "They're mine now."

Ash, still reeling from the blow, stumbled towards Remus. "Give her to me." Her face read anger, but her voice read panic. "Don't hurt her."

Remus, cradling both babies in his arms, kneeled to show that he wasn't a threat. "Is she yours?"

Ash nodded frantically. "Please, please, don't hurt her." Remus passed the baby to her, and she ran to the other side of the room as soon as the infant was safe in her grasp.

After all three of the superiors were unconscious, Tonks announced, "We don't have much time, kids, so if you want to get out of here, we have to go now."

"Where are we going?" The question came from Micah, the boy closest to her who she had seen comforting another orphan earlier that day.

"Home," said Tonks. "Somewhere Madame Martins can't hurt you."

The roomful of children cheered. Micah looked skeptical, Ash even more so, but they followed nonetheless. They couldn't Apparate or take a Portkey, but Remus had already contacted Arthur Weasley to ask for their car. As soon as they left the orphanage, they found a blue car at the edge of the street. Remus performed a massive undetectable extension charm on the vehicle, ushering the kids inside.

Arthur Weasley stood next to the car, gaping in shock. "Did you—"

"I'll explain later," answered Tonks, sliding into the driver's seat. "Now, get in the back."

* * *

Tonks drove them to Malfoy Manor, not the flat that she and Remus shared. "After the War, the Malfoys were stripped of their titles and property." She shrugged. "Now, it belongs to my mum, but she's not doing anything with it at the moment." She glanced back at the twenty-four children crammed into the back of the car. "It'll be your new home," she explained, "for now."

"Who are you?" asked one of the children before Micah could shush him.

"I'm Dora Lupin." She glanced at Remus and smiled. "I'll be your new mum, if you want."

The boy scowled in the rearview mirror. "That's what the matron said."

As Tonks pulled up to Malfoy Manor, she said, "I'm nothing like that evil bitch."

Ash burst out laughing, cackling so hard she could barely breathe, and soon the rest of the orphans followed suit.

Although Tonks was sure the Ministry would come after her for, well, relieving the matron of her duties, she didn't care. All she knew was that these children need a loving and safe home.

Tonks would be more than happy to give it to them.

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review!_

 _Fanfiction Writing Month: October [3498]_

 _Writing Club - Character Appreciation - (relationship) married_

 _Writing Club - Cookie's Craft Corner - Write about a character that dies in canon._

 _Writing Club - Showtime - (object) doll_

 _Writing Club - Count Your Buttons - (word) fear_

 _Writing Club - Sophie's Shelf - (dialogue) "If you touch my son/daughter again, I'll kill you!"_

 _Writing Club - Angel's Arcade - (word) heated, (action) rubbing your boyfriend/girlfriend's back, color (bright red)_

 _Writing Club - Lo's Lowdon - Write about an informal adoption._

 _365 Prompts Challenge - #90 "Family don't end in blood."_

 _Gris-Gris Bag Station - (spell) Bombarda_

 _Chocolate Frog Cards Club - (Bronze) Melania Black - Write about a couple who have one child but are unable to have a second._

 _Make Your Own Pizza - Step Five - (color) mustard yellow_

 _The Golden Snitch - Through the Universe - #33 (Constellation) - (word) tragic_

 _The Golden Snitch - Ollivander's Wand Shop - Quirnius Quirrell - Alder - Write about a Hufflepuff being stubborn._

 _The Golden Snitch - Dreamcatchers - Adoption - Write about a character being adopted._

 _If You Dare Challenge - #12 (Socks)_

 _Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #119 (Remus Lupin)_

 _Character Diversity Boot Camp - #28 (room), Nymphadora Tonks_


	2. As We Roll Down This Unfamiliar Road

_A/N: Next chapter! It's about Tonks' relationship with her newly adopted children, specifically a mute girl everyone calls Tinkerbell._

 _Disclaimer: I own nothing._

* * *

Three years after Second Wizarding War, Tonks had twenty-five children in her home, including her biological son, Teddy. Tonks, Remus, and Andromeda all resided in Malfoy Manor at the moment, taking care of the children the Lupin family had adopted.

Andromeda, upon learning of her daughter's drastic decision to adopt twenty-four orphans, scolded her. "We don't have the means to support them," she stated. "You have to give up some of them."

But as it turned out, as the next heirs of the Black family(excluding those who had been on Voldemort's side during the War), they had the rights to utilize multiple Black fortunes, like Malfoy Manor and the fortune that came with its property. As Tonks explained the situation to her mother, still Andromeda refused.

Referencing the incident that had rendered Tonks unable to bear children, she said, "You're still recovering, sweetheart. How do you expect to care for all of these children?"

"Now, Mum," said Tonks. "When have you ever seen me give up?"

And once Andromeda understood that her daughter would not give up on the children, she relented, falling in love with the children as quickly as Tonks had. They recreated the Malfoy Manor, stripping it of the dark colors and gloomy lighting, and made it into a bright, colorful home. They tore down the dungeon-like basement, bars and all, and they made it into a playroom for the children. Tonks explained that the orphans had been through relentless trauma while at the orphanage under the care of Madame Martins; both she and Remus had seen the fear, malnutrition, and abuse that scarred the children of the orphanage, which is why they had forcibly removed them from their matron's care. Afterwards, Kingsley Shacklebolt, current Minister of Magic, had arrested her and her two assistants for dozens on the suspicion of child neglect. He sent Healers to examine them and their current state of physical and mental health, and the results had returned quite poor. Only a couple of weeks after the original incident, she was arrested and put into Azkaban for dozens of accounts of child abuse and neglect.

The children ranged from all ages: the youngest was a three-month old baby named Thea, while the oldest was a sixteen-year-old boy named Micah. The ages were pretty evenly distributed between those ages, with one or two children per year. Boys and girls, black and white… To anyone else, the Lupin's new family was a ragtag bunch of kids, but Tonks knew better. After pouring her heart into caring and loving these children, she knew these were her children; whether or not she had given birth to them did not matter.

What disturbed her, however, was the fact that two of the children (the first, a four-month old boy, and the second, an eight-year-old girl) had no names. The baby had been left on the doorstep of the orphanage only a month prior to Tonks' arrival, breastfed by the fifteen-year-old mother of Thea, Ash. In fact, the teen was as fiercely protective of the abandoned baby as she was of her own child. "We call him Blue," Ash told her on the first day, holding both babies.

Tonks frowned. "Why?"

Ash slipped "Blue" into her sweater, allowing him to suckle hungrily. The other, Thea, she cradled in the crook of her right arm. "When he got here, he was...blue. Blue in the face. It was a condition or somethin'. Madame Martins' got him fixed right up, but it cost a whole bloody lot. The rest of us—" She stopped talking, staring at the boy beside her, Muhammed. Muhammed rubbed her back, glaring at Tonks. He was incredibly protective of her, even though he had a terrible stutter and seemed to be afraid of everything. But if it came to Ash and her baby, Muhammed seemed to self-sacrifice at every opportunity. Muhammad actively rejected talking about Madame Martins and the orphanage, preferring to reside in silence and denial. Many of the orphans did the same, honestly, refusing to talk about what had happened for fear that Tonks would turn on them and do the same.

One of them, an eight-year-old girl, didn't speak at all; she didn't even have a name. Tonks hadn't noticed at first, because the girl was so attached to the oldest boy, Micah. Micah often spoke for the girl whenever she wanted something; even if she didn't say anything, he always knew what she needed. She looked like she was five or six, even though Micah assured Tonks she was eight years old. She had massive blue eyes and fluffy blonde hair shorn into a pixie cut. The other children called her Tinkerbell, solely because she looked like a mirror image of the fictional fairy. She was mute, but not an unkind child, for she never attempted to harm any of the other children. She seemed...afraid of confrontation, it seemed. She was particularly afraid of Remus, actually, and the scars on his face. It was only once Tonks received the orphans' files from the Ministry of Magic that she understood.

"Tinkerbell" had a real name: Raphaela Torrero. Her mother, Lucia Rosier, had been in one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families, wealthy and pureblood, but she had run away with a Spanish Muggle named Pedro Torrero after attending Hogwarts, disowned from her family. She lived in a small pueblo in northern Spain, away from all of the chaos of Hogwarts, got married, and had five children. When the Second Wizarding War struck, Raphaela was the youngest at five years old, while her siblings were seven, ten, twelve, and thirteen. She sent her children away to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts when each one reached the age of eleven, but the youngest children never saw that opportunity. The Death Eaters tracked down every person related to the Sacred Twenty-Eight and persuaded them to join Voldemort's followers. If they refused, they were slaughtered. Lucia was a pureblood and Pedro was a Muggle, so once the Death Eaters broke down their door, they gave her a "generous" offer, requiring that she denounce all ties to her traitorous past by murdering her husband and children if she wanted to live. Lucia Rosier went down fighting and protecting her children, but eventually the entire family was slaughtered. All expect the youngest girl, Raphaela, who hid, terrified, in the cabinet below the kitchen sink as the bloodbath occurred before her eyes. One of the culprits, apparently, was Fenrir Greyback, the known werewolf-Death Eater with a brutal record of violence. That somewhat explained Raphaela's aversion toward Remus, for he had the scars

After her family's murder, Raphaela was unaccounted for. A year passed, and finally she was found by Ministry authorities living among a group of centaurs and taken to Madame Martins' orphanage. Even when taken to the Ministry and asked about her family, she remained silent. Raphaela, for three years so far, had not spoken a word. In the duration of her time at the orphanage, Micah took her under his wing, protecting her from the matron's cruelty. Madame Martins was always particularly nasty towards the mute girl because she found her silence to be a sign of rebellion instead of a sign of terrible trauma.

Raphaela didn't respond to her real name anymore, Tonks discovered. She only responded to what Micah fondly called her: Tinkerbell, or sometimes just Bell. Tonks loved all of her children equally, but she knew that each one needed special care suited to their needs. Bell, in particular, needed loads and loads of love.

One night when the orphans were still settling in, Tonks sat in the main room and read, drinking a hot cup of tea, she heard someone sneak down the stairs. It was Bell, she discovered, after spotting her mass of blonde hair. She slid over to the counter, where a container of blueberries rested. She wasn't tall enough yet to even see over the counter, yet still Tonks watched as her pale arm extended over the marble to snatch the entire container. Tonks could hear her devouring them from where she was sitting; she rose from her chair, gently announcing her presence. "You hungry, love?"

The girl was alarmed by her sudden appearance, and she flew back, pinning herself against the wall, her eyes wide in fear. She was visibly shaking, and Tonks approached her slowly, with caution. "Don't be afraid," she said, hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Tonks picked up the blueberries, holding them out to Bell. The girl was clearly scared; as Tonks was taking over the female authority role in her life, she was replacing Madame Martins, a woman who had caused Bell so much previous pain that she was unwilling to come anywhere near Tonks. The girl scrambled away from her, scrabbling against the marble floor as fast as she possibly could to get away from Tonks.

Before Tonks could do anything else, the girl bolted up the stairs, tripping over herself in her fear, and Tonks quickly followed. "Wait!" She chased after her. "I'm not gonna—"

Bell had run right into the eldest orphan's arms: the black teen named Micah. He scooped up the eight-year-old into his lanky arms and turned against the wall to shield her from Tonks, protecting her with his body. It was a surprisingly practiced movement; it felt like he'd done it countless times before. "Micah," Tonks said, surprised. "What are you doing out of bed?"

Micah turned his face to look at her, but his body remained in the same position, enveloping Bell so that she was physically blocked from most angles. "Bell's bed was empty," he answered, his voice careful and still. His cautious words were intricately crafted, as though he was afraid one wrong word would make Tonks explode. "I'm sorry, Madame. I'll put her back to bed, I promise."

"You don't have to call me 'Madame,'" Tonks reminded. Most of the children had done it once or twice, but once she reminded them a few times, they began to call her 'Mrs. Lupin," "Dora," or "Mum." The last title only happened with Tomi, Emmy, and Imani, for they were two and three, too young to have fully adjusted to the cycle of violence, and gladly adjusted to Tonks' home of love and affection.

Micah only nodded in response, preferring to remain silent instead of call her by anything else. He faced the wall once more, bowing his head slightly as though submitting completely to her will. Tonks places a tentative hand on his shoulder, and upon the touch, he flinched violently, curling tighter around Bell. It was such a brutally intimate thing to see, for Tonks knew, deep down, that they had endured this situation many times before, but with a much more violent authoritative response.

Tonks pulled her hand away. In time, perhaps Micah and the orphans would trust her not to harm them. But for now… "Are you hungry? You could come downstairs and get something to eat if you want."

Micah turned his face towards her again; although his face conveyed nothing (it never did, for he was too afraid of the repercussions of betraying any emotion), the length for which he stared at her bled confusion. Bell did the same, blinking her massive blue eyes as she hid behind Micah's gray shirt. He didn't say anything. He just stared and stared.

Tonks repeated her question: "Are you hungry?"

Bell nodded, so Micah blocked her from Tonks' view. "We're fine," he said. "We'll go to bed now." His voice was quieter than ever. "No trouble, Madame."

Tonks wanted to correct him one more time, but instead she relented. "Okay, love," she sighed. "Good night."

—

Every night after that, Tonks waited downstairs; eventually, Bell would come looking for something to eat.

And every night, Tonks would get a little closer to the girl. By the time a couple of weeks had passed, finally the girl could sit and eat in front of her, even if it was just a cookie or two. Tonks typically asked her yes or no questions. Once she got the orphan to sit down and eat for more than a terrified five seconds. Instead of scarfing it down like she'd never see food again, she ate slowly, savoring every bite. Bell soon learned that her time with Tonks was sacred and _safe,_ and that she could eat in peace without fearing that her food would be taken away or that she would be hurt.

As Bell sat across from her, munching on cooked potatoes and sausage, Tonks asked her more questions. The first ones were easy, like "What's your favorite color?"

If she couldn't articulate her answer through nodding or shaking her head, she would point at different objects around the room to explain. The later questions were more meaningful, and Bell began to draw her answers. Tonks asked, "Why don't you talk anymore?"

Bell drew for a while, using a set of colorful quills to make herself clear. She handed the picture to Tonks, reaching for a brownie. It depicted a mother, father, and five children, but there was red scribbled all over the people, save the smallest one. So she didn't talk because of what had happened to her family.

Tonks didn't press on after that; she didn't want to scare the girl. Instead, they played board games and Wizarding games that made Bell laugh so hard she fell over. Laughing and crying was the only sounds Tonks ever heard her make, and her laugh was so contagious. Once, after watching a Muggle cartoon film, they laughed so hard and so loud that Remus came downstairs to check on them. "Dora, you alright down here?" He was at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing his eyes.

Startled by his appearance, Bell stopped laughing, scrambling to Tonks and grabbing her hand. Quaking with fear, she latched onto Tonks as the only sense of safety she had. Tonks felt a little pride for giving Bell that safety she craved but also concerned that she was so afraid of her husband. "No, Bell, you're okay," she promised. "You're just fine. This is Remus, remember? He's not going to hurt you."

Remus, well aware of Bell's fearful reactions to him, stopped at the other side of the room and got down on his knees to make himself seem less threatening. Waving at the little girl, he said, "It's just me. Don't worry."

Bell glanced up at Tonks, conflicted. Here was her new mum, telling her that the scarred man in front of her was good, while she knew deep down that men with scars like that were bad. Very bad. Men with scars like that killed her family. "Love," said Tonks, softer now, "this is not the man who attacked your family. This is my husband, Remus, and he is very kind."'

But still Bell shook her head and cowered behind Tonks. After Tonks took her to bed, she stood outside her door with Remus.

"It'll get better," Tonks told him. "I promise. She just has to… She has to get used to you, that's all, and then it'll get normal.

Her husband sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "There's no such thing as normal right now, love," he reminded her. "We're living in Malfoy Manor with twenty-five children and your mother."

Tonks shrugged. "Well, as close to normal as we can get."

As the other orphans adjusted to Remus, Bell did not. She preferred the company of Tonks or Andromeda to anyone else. When Remus tried to approach her once, offering her a box of crayons for her to draw with, she let go of Tonks and bolted away to the safety of Micah. Micah, as always, shielded his sister from both of them and stared at them submissively until they finally left. Bell felt relatively safe in the Lupins' new home, and although she couldn't stand Remus, Tonks was glad that she at least had a semblance of safety. Tonks discovered that Bell loved shiny things, for she had never had anything bright and sparkly before leaving the orphanage. Madame Martins, one of the orphans explained, had a strict belief that color and other visual stimulants encouraged rebelliousness in the children, so she cut it out of their lives. That was why they always wore gray and their house looked like a prison. She believed it would make the children obedient, but all it did was make them crave color more than anything.

She was not a poet; she was a poem. Bell had no words to give anyone, not even Micah, for her trauma rendered her speechless, but every expression she made and every time she laughed was just as beautiful as if she had spoken.

Tonks loved this little blonde girl more than life itself, just as she did all her children. Although life was tense, it was good...

...until a week or so later, when Tonks was sitting downstairs, waiting for Bell, and the little girl never came. Concerned, she went upstairs to check on her. Hopefully, Bell had fallen asleep in the room she shared with Elsie and Jared, but she wasn't there, either. Tonks flew through the hallway of bedrooms, checking each room for Bell, but she wasn't there.

Tonks started to panic. If she wasn't here, where could she be? _Micah's room_ , she thought, and she ran to the end of the corridor. The mute girl was not there, either, so Tonks ran her hands through her short hair anxiously.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a wet cough from behind her. Spinning around, Tonks discovered it was Bell, the little girl she had been looking for.

"Bell," she sighed. "Thank Merlin." But the little girl was stumbling a little, with no response to Tonks' voice. She had pulled a blanket loosely around her own shoulders, and she clung to it like it was Micah's hand. "Love, are you okay?"

It was then Tonks noticed she was crying, and the eight-year-old coughed again, so forcefully that she keeled over with the effort. Tonks ran to her, scooping Bell into her arms, and let her cough into her shirt. "We're okay," she whispered. "Now, let's get you some medicine, hm?"

Bell buried her face into Tonks' shoulder as a silent "okay."

She took her downstairs to the kitchen, where she placed Bell on the counter and gave her some potion for the cough. The eight-year-old was feverish, hot to the touch, but she clung to her burgundy blanket that Tonks had given her, shivering as if she was cold. It was probably just a flu, Tonks deduced, so she set up their new pullout couch for Bell to sleep on instead of her regular one so that she would not spread it to the other children. She gave her another potion to reduce nausea and set her down in the makeshift bed, but as she was pulling up the blankets, Bell grabbed the front of her shirt in a silent plea. _Don't leave me_ , she seemed to say, so Tonks laid on the bed beside her daughter, the girl curling up against her.

In the middle of the night, she woke again, moaning and fighting against the fever that gripped her. She was crying, too, and every sound that she made in anguish made Tonks' heart crack a little. Her temperature continued to rise, so much so that Tonks worried for her well-being, so she picked her up, and, holding her warm body against her, headed upstairs for the bathroom. Maybe a cool bath would help lower her temperature.

As she went, she found Micah in front of his room. He didn't look tired or panicked or angry; he was just...there. He blocked the way to the bathroom. "What have you done to her?" he asked, as though asking her how the weather was.

"Nothing," she promised. "She's just got a little fever, that's all. I'm going to run her a bath."

Micah shook his head. "It's okay, Madame. I'll do it." He held out his arms. "I'll take her."

Tonks knew that he feared she would harm Bell, so she assured him otherwise. "She'll be fine, Micah. I just need to get her temperature down."

Instead of being his usual submissive self, Micah stepped forward. "No."

 _No?_ Tonks frowned. "Micah, there's no need to worry. I'm not going to hurt her. I just need to—"

"I said no," he repeated. "Give her to me. She's my responsibility; I'll take care of her."

As Tonks attempted, once again, to reassure Micah, Bell started to stir in her arms, whimpering a little. "Mummy," she croaked, and Tonks' heart stopped.

Bell had spoken.

Micah's whole world came to a screeching halt as well, for he fell back against the wall, startled.

"I'm too hot," moaned the little girl, and grasping at Tonks' shirt.

"It'll be okay, love," said Tonks. "I'm gonna get you better, don't worry."

Upon those words, Micah stepped aside and let her pass. After all, if Bell was so comfortable around her that she started to speak and called her "mummy," then perhaps Micah could trust her as well.

About a week later, the flu had fully faded, and Bell was back to her curious self. She didn't speak much, but when she did, the entire house stopped to listen, for they all knew how difficult it had been for Bell to adjust. The other orphans began to trust her more as well, knowing that if Bell trusted Tonks, then they could trust her, too. The little ones, especially, treated Tonks like a new mother, and she was ecstatic. Bell even began to trust Remus, once giving him a drawing she'd made of all of the orphans.

She'd built a home for Bell, and she prayed to Merlin that it would stay.

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll be making new chapters as often as I can depicting each of the orphan children and their relationship with Tonks as a mother._

 _Challenges used:_

 _QLFC - Round 13 - Fairy - Write about someone who has a very likeable disposition but is awkward or shy, (word) feverish, (action) getting down on one's knees, (line) She was not a poet; she was a poem._

 _Fanfiction Writing Month: November[3650]_

 _Writing Club - Character Appreciation - Sirius - #3 (character) Remus Lupin,_

 _Writing Club - Disney Challenge - Tamatoa - #6 - Write about someone who likes shiny things._

 _Writing Club - Book Club - (relationship) mother and child, (genre) family, (emotion) worried, (dialogue) "There's no such thing as normal right now!"_

 _Writing Club - Showtime - (emotion) love_

 _Writing Club - Amber's Attic - #5 (Land Before Time) - Write about a safe haven._

 _Writing Club - Ami's Audio Admirations - #13 - (genre) hurt/comfort_

 _Writing Club - Emy's Emporium - #1 (theme) comfort_

 _Writing Club - Angel's Arcade - #4 (Crunch Bandicoot) - (relationship) big brother/little sister, (color) burgundy, (action) lifting something, pick 3_

 _365 Prompts - #242 - (relationship) parent & child_

 _Fortnightly Challenges - Princess Lessons - #7 (Belle) - curious_

 _Fortnightly Challenges - Around The Board - #1 (Write about family.)_

 _Autumn - Universal Children's Day - Write about a child._

 _If You Dare Challenge - #67 (Poem)_

 _The Golden Snitch - Through The Universe - #148 (Red Giant) - (feeling) feverish_

 _The Golden Snitch - Ollivander's Wand Shop - Albus Dumbledore - 15 inch - Write about a Hufflepuff character._

 _Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #217 (food) brownies_


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